COLLAGE

BIOGRAPHY


    It all started in 1985 - the times when no one in Poland played progressive rock. But Collage always wanted to be different (read: progressive). And they have always been! They have their own, very unique style that every fan would immediately recognize. That is probably why they also have so many foreign fans, who adored them even when Collage had Polish vocals!
    But let's start from the beginning. The first Collage lineup included Mirek Gil (guitars), Wojtek Szadkowski (drums), Jarek Wajk (vocals), Jurek Barczuk (guitars), Przemek Zawadzki (bass guitar), Pawel Zajaczkowski (keyboards), and Ania Milewska (keyboard). For a long, long time, Collage had problems finding a suitable vocalist. After Jarek Wajk left the band, he was replaced with Jarek Majka who had a very charismatic and full of passion voice. Unfortunately, he did not stay in the band for a long time.
    The third, also excellent vocalist, was Tomek Rozycki with whom Collage recorded their first album Basnie (fairy tales) in 1990. In spite of the fact that the album was sung in Polish, it was very popular in other countries. The album was even re-released in Italy on Vinyl Magic (1992). The band was really surprised to see all those very favorable reviews in foreign fanzines. Collage was invited to perform in such countries as Sweden, Germany and Italy and, of course, they were going to play some concerts in Poland.
    Just before the tour, Tomek Rozycki (vocals) announced that he was leaving the band. Collage faced a serious problem - they had to find a good vocalist very fast! Luckily, they found one. The fourth Collage vocalist, Zbyszek Bieniak, not only had a good voice but he also was a very talented songwriter. He was a co-author of many tracks, including the biggest Collage "hit" - Living in the Moonlight (unfortunately, his version of this song has never been released). When Zbyszek Bieniak left in January 1992, Jarek Wajk returned to the band for a short time. Collage has recorded some great demos with him (including Living in the Moonlight, The Blues and Lovely Day).
    In 1993, a very significant change was made in the Collage lineup. From the old band remained only Wojtek Szadkowski (drums) and Mirek Gil (guitars), and three new members were added: Piotr "Mintay" Witkowski (bass), Krzysztof Palczewski (keyboards) and a vocalist - very talented young man - Robert Amirian (well known to everyone in Poland from Varius Manx).
    In order to test the abilities of the new lineup, Collage recorded a tribute album Nine Songs of John Lennon. After only about a week in the band, Robert Amirian was told to sing 7 tracks for the album. He was not sure what the band expected from him. His vocals are too quiet on this album and sometimes we can hear some kind of uncertainty in his voice. But it was only on the first album with this charismatic, phenomenal, maybe even one of the best vocalists ever! (Oops, now you can see how big Collage fan wrote it!). Nine Songs of John Lennon was only an interesting kind of introduction to something really big coming up...
    Moonshine was released in 1994 on the now defunct SI Music and was also distributed by Metal Mind Records. There is no weak track on this album. "When you play this CD for the first time, play it very loud," my brother told me. And I did. After the first sounds, I thought my windows were going to explode. Heroes Cry - what a powerful beginning for an album! Later we were "served" with such great tracks as In Your Eyes (14-minute suite); Living in the Moonlight (the most beautiful melody in the world!); Moonshine (breathtaking title track!); or War Is Over (a little poppy but very attractive). More than 67 minutes of absolutely fantastic sounds! The album was very popular all over the world. Now, every progressive rock fan knew, at least the name, Collage!
    Only one year later, in 1995, the next album was out! It was called Changes and the name spoke for itself. It was not a regular album but rather a gift for their fans. It contained old Collage demos and showed the band in its different stages.
    In 1996, the fifth album called Safe was out. The album was going to be released under a different name, not Collage, since the music was going to be a little different. The boys changed their minds when they realized that the fans would recognize their music without a problem anyway. And they were right. It still had the same "touch" and it was Collage without a doubt. There were some really great tracks on the album: Eight Kisses, Cages of the Mind III or One of Their Kind. But, indeed, the album was different from the previous ones. It was somewhat lighter, happier and there were more "love songs" on it.
    Will Collage continue to play their music this way? The answer is no. The fact that after a huge success of Moonshine they were planning to change their name just for that one album proves that. Let's wait and see what the future is going to bring. Collage has always been very enigmatic with their albums. For instance, nobody in Poland knew that Moonshine was going to be released until the very last days before it was out! I believe it is going to happen again pretty soon.

Author: Chris Kukielka.





COLLAGE:

ROBERT AMIRIAN - vocals, acoustic guitar
MIREK GIL - guitars
WOJTEK SZADKOWSKI - drums
PIOTR MINTAY WITKOWSKI - bass
KRZYSZTOF PALCZEWSKI - keyboards


ROBERTMIREKWOJTEK
PIOTRKRZYSZTOF




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